TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Taking on Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over cleaning of the Ganga, Union Minister Uma Bharti asked the Congress leader to refrain from making “frivolous” comments. Bharti, Union Minister for Water Resources, claimed that the work on cleaning the river was on and lay a wager that the Congress vice president “jumps into the river” if positive results of the first phase of the project were evident by 2018 “otherwise I will jump”.
The feisty sadhvi also targeted Gandhi for attacking Modi over his “son of the Ganga from Gujarat” comment, saying the Congress leader should know that his mother Sonia Gandhi “reveres the river” despite her Italian origin. “He (Rahul) says that the prime minister is from Gujarat and calls Ganga his maa (mother). Kafi chhote dimag ke aadmi hain Rahul (he is narrow minded). He is not aware that the entire world considers Ganga its mother,” she said.
Rahul had accused Modi of making “conditional promises and deals” even with “Ganga maa”. Alleging that Modi did not only make promises to Ganga, but even struck deals with her, Gandhi said, “Modi told Maa Ganga that first make him the Prime Minister and then he will carry out the cleaning work.” “Modi strikes a relationship with mother Ganga saying he is the son of Banaras and that mother Ganga called him there (to contest Lok Sabha polls),” Gandhi told a poll rally in Varanasi.
